Thanks for making this place for us who are fighting this battle with our bodies to post our thoughts, struggles and successes. And, it is a battle with our bodies that many of us will fight for the rest of our lives. I was never one of those people who would "forget to eat". I can't even understand how that could be a thing but there are people, of course skinny people, who will say they forgot to eat. For me it has always been more of a forgetting to stop eating issue. I have to actively think about NOT eating!

To lose weight or maintain weight, every bite I put in my mouth requires consideration. Am I fixated on food? Of course I am! When I am dieting or maintaining, I choose to fixate on it, to plan what I will eat, to measure servings out in cups or on scales, to record everything so I don't "forget" how much I have already consumed. Is fixation on food a good thing? No! But to not fixate on it in this way leaves me to fixate on it involuntarily. Without consciously focusing on my food intake, my fixation is not a choice, it is a compulsion.

That fixation is the little voice in my head that says, "You know a piece of cake would taste really good right now" or "Don't worry, we're just going to eat a little ice cream". It is the part of me that says I have to clean my plate because I was raised with stories of starving children in Africa and convinces me to buy extra at the store because it is on sale and I was taught to "be prepared". Sadly, it is a fixation that is rarely quiet, unless it is overpowered by my self-imposed fixation on diet. Too bad there is not a "pill" for this.

On a more routine note, started a 3 day fruit & vegetable fast today. It is considered by some to be a "cleanse" but no solid evidence of that but it can't hurt. Today's calorie count was 540, surprising to add up that many with only fruit and vegetables, no starchy veggies, no bananas. Not bothered by it, just surprised. Tomorrow may be higher as I plan to have a kale smoothie which has banana in it. I'll let you know if I feel "cleaner" after it. Think about it, it just might work.

Goal less than 1200 calories 1000 curls w/ 5 lbs in each hand and 250 above head lifts. Cannot walk due to ulcer on foot.

Breakfast...toast and jam 300